


Love Letters

by Jodygoroar



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: 01x05, Canon Compliant, Destined, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Love Letters, Romance, Romantic Tension, like gravity, otp, post 01x04
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-25 14:15:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9824147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jodygoroar/pseuds/Jodygoroar
Summary: Betty and Jughead write long poetic love letters to one another.





	1. The First Letter

It was a simple envelope that started it all. Then again, thinking back on it, Jughead never would have described a single second of it as “simple”.

  
It was the fainted shade of pink and smelled of strawberry-kiwis. There it was, laying on the top of his English lit text book when he opened his locker Thursday afternoon. Jughead tugged a single ear bud and hung his bag on the hook. Gently he picked up the pink envelope, recognizing the purposeful loops of her writing scrawled across the paper in red ink.

_Jughead_

“Hey, Jug,” Archie came up beside him, a smile on his face, he was excited about something, but Jughead’s mind was fixated on the missive he’d slipped quietly into his back pack.

It wasn’t until hours later when he finally had settled into his sleeping bag, tucked into the back corner of the public library’s reference section, that he pulled it from his pocket. Tucking his index finger under an edge Jughead tore it open, and pulled out a page the same shade of pink as the envelope.

In the red light of the emergency exit sign Jughead read the four lines of the simple letter.

_Dear Juggie,_

_I wanted to thank you for your help in bringing the Blue and Gold back to life. It means a lot to me, and I couldn’t have done it without you._

_Love, Betty_

He read the words over and over again, baffled at first, slowly letting the reality of it all sink in. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He slouched down, holding the page close above his face, breathing in the clean, fruity scent that was Betty Cooper.


	2. Configuring Correspondence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juggie considers how to respond to Betty's letter.

Sunday evening, just about dusk, Jughead was seated on Archie’s front porch. His laptop’s cursor was blinking at him accusingly from the blank document, just as it had been for the last three days. Sighing loudly, Jughead closed the computer and began shoving it into his bag.  
  
Archie looked up from his geometry book and lifted a single eyebrow at his friend, “Going?”

“Can’t get my thoughts in line tonight,” he replied, shrugging, “thought I might go for a walk.”

He couldn’t help but notice the slight frown that flashed across Archie’s face. Jug expected that Archie, more than anyone knew something was going on with him. He could tell Andrews was worried about him but didn’t want risk their newly mended friendship.

Rolling his eyes, Jughead dropped his bag back on the step and asked, “Can I crash here tonight?”

Obviously relieved, Archie nodded and bent his head back over his math work.

He headed down Archie’s street, wandering aimlessly further into the winding maze of the suburban neighborhood. Jamming his hands into his jeans, listening to Imagine Dragons blare from his earbuds, feeling his boots slam on the sidewalk, the cool air brought a bit of cohesion to the thoughts he wanted to share with Betty.

Jughead had read her letter a few hundred times now, each time he found new meaning in her words, until he was overwhelmed with it all. The thoughts slamming around the inside of his skull, mingling with images of blonde ponytails, tiny rows of diamond earrings, strawberry milkshakes topped with whipped cream, and that smile. 

Betty Cooper was like sunshine incarnate and he was beginning to think her light was the only one remaining in his dark and morose existence, especially now that the Twilight drive-in was being wiped from the face of his world. She probably hadn’t expected him to write back; the thank you note simply a habit of etiquette instilled in her by her overbearing mother. But she had unwittingly opened a door to an old form of communication that Jughead had cherished as he did the classic black and white pictures that he’d watch beside his sister Jellybean, back before life had started falling apart.

Back when they were all together, back when he knew his sister’s favorite everything, when he knew so much… and somehow nothing at all. 

“But that’s a story for another day…” he mumbled to the crisp autumn air of Archie’s quiet street, jerking himself out of that depressing line of thought.

Walking had cleared his head and helped him to think but the heart and soul of his response came to him just before he stepped onto Archie’s front porch.

In the driveway next door, Betty was stepping out of her mother’s car, clearly irritated, she swiped angrily at one eye, and turned pointedly away from Mrs. Cooper. Lucky for Jughead, he was in the perfect position to catch her eye as she slammed the car door, her face relaxing almost instantaneously at the sight of him. She smiled a little and waggled her fingers discreetly at him, then ducked quickly inside the house in an attempt to escape the stinging words Mrs. Cooper was flinging at her. 

Like being struck by lightning, Jughead knew what he wanted to write. He grabbed his bag and went inside. He nodded to Archie’s father who was sitting at the kitchen table and asked, “Archie upstairs?”

Mr. Andrews grunted in acknowledgment and returned to whatever stack of papers he was working on. _Probably counting up the profit from tearing down my home._ The thought came unbidden to his mind and he immediately felt a wave of guilt turn his stomach.

“Thanks,” he mumbled under his breath as he headed up the stairs. 

Archie was seated at his desk, guitar in his lap, one arm slung over the body. His other hand was scribbling furiously in the notebook he wrote lyrics in. Barely looking up from his work, Archie grunted something that may have been called a greeting. Jughead shook his head at his childhood friend and pulled the second chair up to Archie’s desk, discreetly clearing a corner for his use. 

Kicking off his boots, Jug tucked one foot up underneath himself and settled his laptop precariously on the desk’s edge. He closed his eyes and stretched his neck and then his arms up over his head, joints popping from the movement. His slim fingers hovered hesitantly just above the keyboard. Jughead shook his head and set to typing.

_Dear Betty…_

Five minutes in he became distracted when a light in the corner of his eye grabbed away his attention. Betty had walked into her bedroom, which, from where he was seated, he had an excellent view of. Jughead had never claimed to be a gentleman, but averted his eyes anyway. This thing with her was too new, and too precious, to risk damaging with uninvited eyes roaming in her private space. Feeling a wave of heat spread up his face from the collar of his shirt, Jug set his fingers back to the keyboard and eloquently spewed the last three days of his internal rambling onto the page.

Just as Jughead was finishing the letter and deciding on how to sign it, a movement at her window grabbed his eye. Betty was standing at her window, sheathed in a white nightgown, her fingers playing in the wispy pink curtains, her bare shoulders catching the moon light, her eyes locked on him.

She’d been watching him, and he had no idea how long she’d been there, a tiny voice in his head said, _A while, I hope_. A shy but warm smile spread across her face. Her mouth shaped the words “good night”, teeth sinking into her bottom lip for just a second before she disappeared from the window.

Something deep in his gut stirred, something new and almost terrifying woke within him.


	3. The Only Thing I Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty gets Jughead's letter.

She’d found the letter, tucked in a plain envelope that had been slipped inside her locker. The sight had immediately brought a smile to her face, bringing back the moment she had dropped a similar envelope into a different locker down the hall.

“Good morning!” Veronica said cheerily from her locker across from Betty’s. She smiled to Veronica over her shoulder and carefully tucked the letter into the front cover of her day planner. She closed her locker, slinging her bag over her shoulder. They walked down the hall to homeroom, Veronica started talking about the plans she and Kevin had to drive to the nearest mall and shop ‘til they drop. “Do you wanna come with us? I mean the gay BFF opinion is fabulous, but I trust the critical eye of Reporter Cooper.”

Betty smiled warmly at her and said, “That sounds like fun.”

Shoving thoughts of the letter from her mind, which was difficult to say the least, Betty went about her first two classes, excited for her third period study hall.

Waving at Archie as they passed in the hall, she stepped into the library and sought out the table in the far corner with the best window. The mid-morning sunshine was streaming across the surface. Betty placed her bag on the table, took out her planner, and the letter. Holding the crisp envelope, she closed stared at the boldly elegant black letters of her name, and took a breath, her heart fluttering, her nerves singing.

_Dear Betty,_

_Who would have thought that Riverdale’s own Hitchcock blonde, Betty Cooper, would take the time to write out a letter to the boy from the other side of town, Jughead Jones the Third?_

Betty read the words without pause, her eyes scanning swiftly across the page, drinking in every word, every thought.

He told her about his love of written letters, _a forgotten and sorely missed activity of a bye-gone era._

He told her how he enjoyed working with her, _You have a talent with words that I admire, and a tenacity for the truth that astounds me. Your article revealing the story of Chuck and his goons was a pleasure to read._ She could hear the dry, yet admiring tone of his voice as she read these words.

By the second page she was nearly trying to crawl within the lines of script on the page. Her whole body had curled in on itself, protectively surrounding the letter from prying eyes or opinions. Betty knew Jughead would not have written these words facetiously or want for them to spread around Riverdale. She instinctively shielded his wit, humor, and thoughts with her very body, amazed by the trust he showed in her by putting his very mind into words and gifting them to her.

What was awaiting her on the bottom of the second page stunned Betty and sent a shock of something new along her veins.

_I had to write out this letter on the computer, I think better that way, the words come easier when I type. It was difficult but I found the way to say it._

_I find myself looking for you, seeking you out during the day. You are the single golden light I see in my dark sardonic world. Your smile is the brightest thing I have ever seen and it’s like an ache in my heart. With every beat, it burns through me, a million little cinders scorching every nerve. The only thing I know is I would burn to ashes to keep the feeling from vanishing._

_Now, as I come to the end of this, I admit it, quite lengthy, letter, it occurs to me exactly how many ways there are to say goodbye. So…_

_Jughead_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing from Jughead's perspective was tricky, which is why you don't get a whole letter. As I write more of this fic I hope to step into his voice a little more. The challenge is good for me and my writing. 
> 
> PS I love your comments, thank you! They feed my muse! XOXO


	4. The Constellation in His Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place just after Betty reads his first letter, set within the "Murder Board" scene in episode 01x05, Chapter Five: Heart of Darkness. All of the italicized text is direct dialog from the episode. I simply worked it into the context of this fic. More to follow! Enjoy!

Three periods had now passed since Jughead had slipped his letter into Betty Cooper’s locker at dawn. He’d gotten to school early on Tuesday; say around 1:00am, and had spent the night in the Blue and Gold’s office. There were only so many nights in a row he could crash on Archie’s floor before unwanted, and difficult to answer, questions started getting asked.

Stepping directly away from those thoughts, Jughead focused on the bulletin board before him. He’d just finished tacking up the last piece when she walked in.

Betty’s eyes were down, her brow furrowed in concentration, as she lightly nibbled on her left index finger. His swift in-take of breath as she stepped into the sun-filled room drew her attention, a bright smile and soft blush spread across her face.

“Good morning,” she said warmly, placing her bag on the table they used for designing layouts.

Clearing his throat, Jughead gave her a sardonic smile. “Hey,” he said in his usual dry tone; his normal demeanor, but when he was with Betty, things were different. The world was not so harsh, life not so bleak, and he didn’t feel like such an outsider.

“Morning,” he said, more friendly, a smile splitting his lips.

For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, Betty and Jughead simply stood there, staring and smiling at each other. Green eyes looking into blue, both finding a hint of familiar grey in the others’. Neither had any other place in the universe they would have rather been in that exact moment. It stretched on endlessly…

Until Kevin burst into the room, talking quickly about the details of the case so far. His sudden and abrupt entrance into the news room took them both by surprise, their hearts leapt and picked up from already rapid tempos. Betty ducked her eyes, the blush spreading down her neck, she turned to face the board of clues about the murder of Jason Blossom.

_“This is how my dad had his Jason Blossom Murder Board before it was trashed,” Kevin said, adjusting a photo of the Blossom family._

_“Any leads on who did that? Or what they were looking for?” Jughead asked from his perch on the edge of the desk._

_“Nope. No finger prints” he answered, turning to look at Betty. “They stole a bunch of files, background checks, and all the video and audio tapes of police interviews.”_

_At that moment, Trev walked into the room, and smiled when he saw Betty, “Hey, Betty.”_

He instantly zeroed in on her reaction. The investigative journalist side of Jughead Jones III reared its ugly head and couldn’t help but analyze her next words.

_“Trev! Hi!”_

Jughead could tell by the sound of her voice she was smiling. What he couldn’t tell was whether it was her polite girl-next-door smile, or her genuine brighter-than-the-sun smile she reserved for her closest friends.

_“Sorry to interrupt…”_ Trev began.

_“Oh, no! It’s okay, uh,” Betty assured him. “We’re just uh, working on…”_

_“Our murder board,”_ Jughead supplied, curious to see what his reaction would be. He raised his eyebrows when, Betty, to his pleasure, nodded in agreement.

_“Well, uh, I just wanted to make sure we’re still on for tomorrow,”_ Trev said, unsure.

_”Absolutely,” she told him. “It’s a date.”_

_Jughead’s stomach dropped and he felt an unfamiliar sharpness in his chest. Betty was going on a date with Trev? Had she not gotten his letter yet? Was he too late? Did he completely misinterpret the letter? Did he really mess this up that badly? _Already Jones? You haven’t even begun yet, and already you’ve fucked it up royally.__

__“I mean, uh I’ll… I’ll see you there. Bye!”_ Betty stumbled while Trev nearly bounced out of the room._

__That was weird._ He thought to himself, stamping the sudden screaming panic in his throat down to a more manageable decibel._

_Thankfully Keller was ready to ask the question that Jughead could not force out from his own lips. _“Going on a date with Trev? Does Mama Cooper know about that?”__

__“Kev, I’m not on house arrest.”_ _

_Kevin gave her his patented “Quit-Your-Bullshit-Cooper” look and she clarified, _“Okay, she’s out of town at a women-in-journalism spa retreat, anyway it’s not a date-date,”_ trying to explain, Betty crossed the room, avoiding eye contact with anything but the floor._

_The acerbic creature in Juggie’s head spoke for him, _“You just called it a date. You literally said, ‘It’s a date.’”_ His eyebrows raised toward his beloved beanie, daring her to deny the very words she had spoken a moment before._

__“That’s just my cover. Really, it’s an intelligence gathering mission. We should focus on the one thing that we have access to that your dad doesn’t.” Betty was explaining to Kevin, but he wasn’t listening. His head was reeling again, spinning around the idea that Betty was the most clever and dedicated person he had met. She amazed him at every turn and had a thirst for the truth of what happened that day at Sweet Water River. Maybe he hadn’t messed this up at all._ _

___“The kids at Riverdale high. You know, maybe Trev knows something about Jason that he didn’t think was important.”_ _ _

__Her brilliance made her all the more amazing, shining brightly at a distance he never would have guessed he could traverse. It was like staring at the constellations, you could admire them from afar, imagine they were there with you, and even call them friend. But you’d never expect the stars to fall from the sky and spend their lives on earth with the mortals that walk it._ _

__Just as he was sure a black hole would swallow him and erase his very existence before this star would shine on him, her eyes lifted, met his, and the moment they had shared earlier returned, more forceful than before. Betty’s green eyes stared intensely into his, as though she were trying to shove her very soul through them to show him her deepest thoughts, and what he saw was himself looking back at him. In that moment, he knew, she’d read his letter, and their correspondence was far from over._ _


	5. A Rose Among the Thorns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jughead and Betty attend Jason's memorial and snoop through his room. Betty replies to Jughead's letter. Set during 01x05. Italicized dialog came straight from the episode.

Betty had just sealed her letter when she glanced at the clock and realized she’d need to hurry if she was going to be ready in time. She rushed through her shower and drying her hair, leaving it just a little damp. She was conducting a final check in her mirror when she sensed him, his soul preceded him, breathing its own life separate from his body.

_“Ready to enter the belly of the best?”_ Jughead looked so handsome in his suit, his iconic beanie secure in its place atop his black curls. Suddenly, Betty’s fingers itched to run through those curls, her smile so bright she couldn’t contain it.

A look filled his face that she was not used to seeing, he looked almost shy. _“It was the best I could do,”_ he told her. She smiled at him and he smiled back, shy again and he looked away.

They traveled quietly in the backseat of her father’s car, their hands inches apart on the seat between them. She wondered the entire ride to Thorn Hill if he felt the electric thrills running through his fingers like she did.

After Cheryl had spoken, much to the chagrin of Mrs. Blossom, Betty and Jughead managed to slip away. Betty had to force down a longing to reach forward and lace her fingers with his as they silently went up the stairs and sought out Jason’s bedroom.

_“Where does a teenage boy hide things?”_ Betty asked once they had found his room and closed themselves inside the dark space.

_“Under the mattress. Maybe in the drawers,”_ Jughead suggested, sounding a little breathless. _“Behind the headboard. In the closest,”_ he continued.

Like every good sleuth would, they began riffling through drawers and cabinets, searching for clues, evidence, anything that would prove a connection between Jason’s murder and Polly.

“Hello,” came a voice filled with gravel and sandpaper.

They jumped and turned, Jughead instinctively placed his hand on her shoulder, pressing close to her body, ready to pull her from any danger that may present itself. An electricity filled the air as he realized he was close enough to feel her breath and catch the smell of her hair.

From the shadows wheeled Grandmother Blossom, blind in one eye, with a single dramatic streak of red in her silver hair, she made quite the imposing figure, tailor made for Thorn Hill’s novelesque façade.

_“I’m so sorry, we were just leaving.” _Betty said, her pulse racing at her throat.__

__Grandmother Blossom smiled, _“Oh, it’s you. How lovely to see you again. Come closer, I want to get a good look at you.”__ _

____Jughead’s sense of irony got the best of him, here they were in Riverdale’s very own creepy mansion for the murder mystery victim’s funeral and they get caught snooping by the spine-chillingly half-blind, grandmother. He simply couldn’t help himself, leaning in close to Betty’s ear he whispered to her, “The horror. The horror.”_ _ _ _

____Though the information they learned from Mrs. Blossom was useful and led them further on their investigation of Polly Cooper romance with Jason Blossom, Jughead was glad to leave Thorn Hill behind and return to the quietly charged atmosphere of Mr. Cooper’s Buick._ _ _ _

____Fifteen minutes later, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper were stepping inside their peaceful-appearing suburban dream home. “Come along, Betty,” Alice Cooper called to her younger daughter, waiting in the doorway for her to obediently follow._ _ _ _

____“Coming, Mom,” she called. Turning back to Jughead, Betty said, “I’ll text you later if I find anything about where my parents have sent Polly.”_ _ _ _

____“And we’ll meet in the Blue and Gold office before lunch tomorrow,” he replied, longing for anything to say to her, to keep her there with him just a few more seconds. He wanted to look at her such a moment longer, another sixty seconds of her light to fill his dark nights with._ _ _ _

____Smiling, Betty pulled a soft pink envelope from her purse and discreetly pressed it into his hands, leaning towards him just enough that he caught a swift rush of her strawberry-kiwi shampoo. “See you tomorrow,” she smiled brightly, her cheeks just a bit pinker than usual, and he knew that smile was just for him._ _ _ _

____He rewarded her with a genuine smile of his own, the dimples in his cheeks showing for a second. She went to bed that night with no more evidence of where to look for Polly, and that smile burning into her mind and her dreams and her heart._ _ _ _

____Jughead took the letter, tucking it carefully into the breast pocket of the suit jacket he had borrowed from Archie. He began walking down the Cooper’s street and turned toward town. After a day like today, with a fresh letter from Elizabeth Cooper in his possession, he needed a stiff cup of coffee and a giant cheeseburger from Pop’s._ _ _ _

____After ordering and stirring a single spoonful of sugar into his coffee, Jughead tore along the seal of his letter. His blood thrummed frantically through his veins as he began to read._ _ _ _

_____Dear Jughead,  
How do I even begin? Your letter was wonderful. It gave me chills, and made my heart sing. Your words are poetic and elegant. I feel as though I am stumbling all over every word I want to tell you. My thoughts, my feelings, they’re all jumbled up inside of my head and inside my heart. Usually putting my soul down on paper is easy, but this is more important than that, it’s precious and I don’t want to break it._ _ _ _ _

_____This one thing I know: I look for you, too._ _ _ _ _

_____Sometimes I feel like everybody wants me to be something or somebody that I’m just not. I spend all my time striving to make everybody else happy, but when I’m with you, it’s okay to just be me. It’s as if I’m enough for you, just as I am, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted; to be seen for who I am when I’m me. Even when I have to put on one of those faces I think you can still see me._ _ _ _ _

_____I think I see you too, and it’s like you reflect me. Like you’re the other side of me, and it was always supposed to be this way. It feels like gravity, like stars circling in the darkness of space, and they are the only two things in the universe._ _ _ _ _

____Betty’s words flowed over his damaged soul like a soothing balm, every syllable caressing his scars, coaxing the light back into the emptiness of his soul._ _ _ _

_____I don’t know what happened at Thorn Hill today, because we haven’t gone yet, but whatever it is, I’m sure I enjoyed it, simply because I was with you. Every night I think of the next time I will see you. As you read this, at home, or with Archie nearby, or maybe in a booth at Pop’s with coffee and a burger, know that I am thinking of you, Jughead Jones III, and counting the moments until I see your face again._ _ _ _ _

_____Sweet dreams. Love,_ _ _ _ _

_____Bets_ _ _ _ _

____His food had arrived somewhere along the lines that Betty had poured herself into, and now his fries were getting cold, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered as her words danced across his eyes, spun in his mind, and hummed in his heart._ _ _ _

____He didn’t know where he was sleeping tonight. He didn’t know who had killed Jason Blossom. He didn’t know what would happen in the coming weeks. What he did know, was that he would spend every second of the rest of his life knowing that this was the moment that every little piece of him became irrevocably hers._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, [SPOILERS] tonight's episode was amazing and I can't fucking wait to write that scene into this fic. AHHH! Fangirl down.


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